Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon and A.I.S.

At the beginning of summer I was so far into the writing groove that I was having a hard time climbing out of it when reality begged for my attention. Things like laundry, meals, and other boring stuff was pushed to the back burner in favor of living in my imaginary world and hanging out with my characters.

Then school let out and I spent a lot of time away from my writing and enjoying summer vacation. (Totally worth it by the way and I regret nothing. Click here for the pictures)

However once summer ended, kids returned to school, the house got unearthed from a shameful amount of dust, it was time for me to write again.

And there’s where the trouble began.

Last week I knew what I wanted to write, and what I wanted my words to accomplish. The goals I had for my characters and the storyline were very clear in my mind.

But…

I just couldn’t get it out right.

Everything I wrote was nowhere the level it needed to be to portray the emotions I needed, my word choice was off, and my sentences were stiltled and choppy.

Did I walk away?

No! (aside to some trips to the kitchen for more coffee, and probably too much chocolate)

I applied my tried and true method for overcoming a bout of writer’s block.

Simply stated, I put my A$$ in Seat and trudged through my block, one rotten word at a time. After I’d spent some serious A.I.S. time I found that the words came to me easier, and soon the scene was just as I’d envisioned.

6 thoughts on “Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon and A.I.S.”

Love this sooooooo much. Glad you have a wonderful summer with the kids and I am sure someone is relieved you removed the old dust … however … I am happier for your book that you planted yourself squarely where you needed to be to get the job done.

What do I do with … what was that you said … writer’s block? Oh, fine, I know what it is, I just refuse to become infected with the dreaded block. When I am hard pressed to continue with my current WIP I switch gears and work on a post I’ll put up later, or I play with another story. I might switch back and forth to things, until I wind my way back to where I got stuck and … my goodness the answer was there all the time.

Research, read, listen to music or search for things on youtube, play with another story and the muse will catch up with you and BAM ! Keep at it :)

I’m working through another round of A.I.S. (so of course I was checking my email a bunch :)) to get through a particularly hard few pages. Love reading your advice about dealing with block…all great ideas!

Hey Christi, this so happened to me too after a summer off writing. I think of it more as being out of the writing habit than writers block. It just takes me time to get in the practice of writing again. Once a week or so passes I’m back in the groove, but those first few days are frustrating!

I’m so glad to hear I’m not the only one this happened to. I’m trying my hardest to get back into the groove, and sometimes feel like I’m just forcing myself to just sit and stare at the screen…but at least I’m getting back into the habit.

Thanks for visiting and I’m happy to see the Wordbitches blog is back up and running again too!

I was just telling a client this morning that when my house is clean, its a sure sign I’m blocked. And when its good and messy, I’m writing like crazy. At the moment, its somewhere in between. Had a group over on Tuesday night, so I kinda had to clean it up. And sometimes to get back in the groove you have to force it a little and it feels awkward, but soon it will all fall into place.